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Former UGA diver Colwill looks to go out with a splash in final Olympic appearance

Chris Colwill waves during an awards ceremony after winning the men's 3-meter springboard final at the U.S. Olympic diving trials on Sunday, June 24, 2012, in Federal Way, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

Chris Colwill had the opportunity to walk away about as enticingly close to the top as he could imagine.

The former Georgia diver qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and reached the finals in both of his events, finishing fourth in the 3-meter synchro and 12th in the 3-meter springboard. But the allure of competition and the hanging what-ifs that would linger had he chosen to walk away were too loud to ignore, he said.

“Chris saw enough that he put his life on hold for four years,” Georgia diving coach Dan Laak said. “He could have walked away an Olympian, an NCAA champion, a U.S. champion and had an amazing career. He saw all his friends getting married, having kids, getting jobs and making money. But as long as he still wasn’t totally satisfied, the drive was there in the back of his mind.”

So four years later, Colwill, 27, is still pushing hard, and it’s paid off with another shot. After finishing as the top qualifier at last month’s U.S. Olympic trials, he’s headed to London to compete in the 3-meter springboard.

And this time will be his last.

“It’s hard to just quit,” said Colwill, who won three NCAA and five Southeastern Conference titles at Georgia. “I knew that I would regret not going for another four years, and at least I can say I gave it another try. But this is my last hurrah.”

Now, knowing he is entering the final days of his competitive diving career, he is trying to hold tight to every experience he had and every lesson learned.

“You can’t change anything from now until the Games,” Colwill said. “Right now, you just try to avoid going from a high to a low. You’ve just got to maintain yourself emotionally, make yourself prepared, and that’s quite hard because a lot of athletes, after doing something great, want to let it go for a while. You can’t do that after trials.”

And if Colwill can maintain the level of performance he displayed through the fall and particularly at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in June, he could be in medal contention, said Laak, who has worked with Colwill for nearly nine years. Since the winter, Colwill has proven to be one of the world’s top divers with a first-place finish at the 2012 USA Diving Winter National Championships, a ninth-place finish at the FINA World Cup and another title at the USA Diving Grand Prix.

And much of that success can be attributed to the finality of the upcoming Olympic Games, Laak said.

“One of the reasons Chris has been diving so well the last six or seven months is that he knows this is the end,” Laak said. “He has come to grips with it. And it hasn’t put pressure on him. He’s not thinking that this is his last chance. He just wants to have fun. He’s been doing this 20-something years, and he’s thinking that whatever happens, happens.”

Acceptance doesn’t necessarily mean it will be easy to walk away. Colwill described the time after the 2008 Olympic Games as an emotional period and one that can toy with any athlete’s psyche, and so he has plans to keep his mind from wandering in the days after the London Games. He will travel Europe for a month and then return to his hometown of Brandon, Fla., where his father has a job waiting for him at his design firm.

“It’s definitely hard after the Games,” Colwill said. “Last time, I came home from Beijing and a lot of us went through a bit of a depression. I promised myself that I would go travel to keep myself from coming home and feeling like that again. I wanted to be able to go and enjoy myself and get my mind off of things.”

It will also mark the end of an era for Laak, who recruited Colwill out of Tampa Prep and has worked with him since. The two have become close friends – like family, Laak said – and this transition will be more than saying goodbye to a competitor.

“We’ve become very close,” Laak said. “When we walk into the pool, we’re coach and athlete. But when we walk out, we go to the golf course, or go to lunch or grab a beer now that he’s old enough. I’m going to miss him. The first day of practice when I walk in and he’s not here, it’s going to be different.

“I’m glad he’s getting to end his career the way he is, but we’re going to miss him around here.”